# [spirit review] Teacher's Highland Cream



## markov (Aug 15, 2011)

Another affordable blend to be reviewed, this time it's Teacher's Highland Cream. The history of this brand can be traced all the way back to 1830, when William Teacher opened a grocery shop in Glasgow. He soon started trading with spirits and when his sons took over, blending became increasingly important. It was not until 1884 when the trademark was registered. In 1889 Teacher's opened the Ardmore single malt facility, to ensure enough quantity of consistent malt for their Highland Cream blend. Ardmore remains the most important single malt within Highland Cream to this day.
What is really interesting about this blend is that it uses around 45% of single malt whiskies, with the dominant one being Ardmore (alongside around 30 other single malts). Most blended whiskies on the market typically use 20%-30% single malt content, so this is definitely a plus, especially in an affordable blend.
Highland Cream is a well known brand and arguably one of the best nonaged blends on the market, especially considering it's price. Recently Teacher's changed the Highland Cream bottle (and with it, whisky changed a bit too), leading to many reports of quality deteriorating, or at least being very inconsistent from batch to batch. It seems that Teacher's had some issues with transition, which we can only hope are finally over now. While some people reported deterioration, many also seem to praise the new whisky, saying it improved a lot.

This whisky comes without any packaging, in a simple bottle. It boasts with "rich full flavour, high malt content" on the front and this short description on the back:
"All blended scotch whiskies are made of two kids of scotch whisky - malt and grain. But teacher's uniquely includes a higher percentage of highland peated malt from the Ardmore distillery - a feature which contributes to its unique character and flavour."
Teacher's gives no age statement, but it's aged for just a bit more than 3 years, which barely allows it to call itself scotch. It's bottled at standard 40% and uses caramel to achieve its color. Time to open the bottle. The aroma is not strong, but definitely pleasant. Oily, smoky cream with some aged wood, fruity, reminding of fermented plums, very nice.

On the nose, straight: very creamy and rich, letting it rest reveals more fruity notes, caramel. Letting whisky to open up brings out some more old woody tones.
On the nose with water added: even more sweet and creamy, more woody notes. Even though I accidently poured in more water than I initially intended, it didn't drown the aroma! It seems like this whisky will benefit from some added water, as aroma loses nothing, it only brings it out more to the front.

Taste, straight: full, but smooth flavor, oily, a little smoky, very creamy. Almost no finish and very refreshing aftertaste. Amazingly complex and not even a little sharp and grainy, as one would expect from such a young blend.
Taste, water added: more cream and sweetnes, water benefits this whisky a lot. Again, very quick and refreshing finish.

Not only is this whisky amazingly flavorful for its age, it's also drinkable straight as it is, unlike other whiskies in its price range, like Johnnie Walker Red Label, Ballantines Finest, etc. As said before, water benefits Teacher's. Let's hope they maintain the consistency and quality, as it would be a shame if this whisky deteriorated. Recommended!

I give this blended whisky: 4.5/5 (blend, unaged mark)


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## Frodo (Oct 1, 2009)

Teachers is one of the NAS (non-age statement) blends that I can drink straight without wincing. Decent stuff that won't bite back, but has some smokiness to it...


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